Notification of Upcoming Change in Federal-wide Unique Entity Identifier Requirements

Notice Number: NOT-OD-19-098

Key Dates
Release Date: April 11, 2019

Related Announcements
NOT-OD-21-170 - Update: Notification of Upcoming Change in Federal-wide Unique Entity Identifier Requirements

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

The purpose of this Guide Notice is to alert NIH recipients of the Federal-wide transition from the DUN and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) to a new Government-owned unique entity identifier (UEI). Effective December 2020, the system for Award Management (SAM) will become the central repository for the new SAM Managed Identifier (SAMMI) that will be incorporated into an institution’s SAM registration.

Policy Change

Currently, in accordance with Federal assistance regulations and the NIH Grants Policy Statement 2.3.7.8, all applicant organizations must have a DUNS number as the Universal Identifier when applying for Federal grants or cooperative agreements, and recipient organization must notify potential subrecipients that no organization may receive a subaward under the grant unless the organization has provided its DUNS number to the recipient organization.

In March 2019, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced that the U.S. Government is moving to a new Government-owned unique entity identifier, SAMMI, which will replace the DUNS as the unique entity identifier in all systems, including Grants.gov and eRA Commons. The assignment of the SAMMI will be incorporated into the SAM registration process, eliminating the need for applicants to seek external identifiers in order to register. This change will not impact the Institutional Profile File (IPF) generated by eRA Commons for tracking and reporting on NIH awards.

The transition from DUNS to SAMMI is ongoing, and GSA will provide details to agencies related to the full implementation by December 2020. NIH will provide updates and guidance to recipients on changes to policies and procedures as additional information becomes available.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
Division of Grants Compliance and Oversight
Telephone: 301-435-0949
Email: grantscompliance@od.nih.gov